 Thorenco
LLC is developing three special reactors one to purify spent nuclear
fuel, the second to produce cleaner power and heat
at remote locations and one to produce medical isotopes in short supply.
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The
first thorium converter reactor is designed to transmute and
to “fission away” the heavy transuranic metals,
the “nuclear waste” that the world’s fleet
of 441 light water reactors produce in spent fuel. This waste
is about 4-5% of the volume of the fuel rods. It is composed
of neptunium, plutonium, americium and curium. These transuranic
elements are radiotoxic for very long periods of time. Thorenco’s
technology fissions the plutonium and irradiates the transuranics
causing the heavy metal elements to fission or to become lighter
elements with much shorter decay periods. The thorium fuel cycle
provides the neutrons as does the reactor grade plutonium. Nuclear
power becomes more sustainable because the volume of the spent
fuel from the uranium plutonium cycle is reduced by up to 95%.
More importantly, the storage time for the residue from the
recycled thorium fuel is materially reduced. This will have
to be stored for less than 1% of the time needed for the storage
of the untreated transuranics. |
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The
second thorium converter reactor is designed to produce heat,
fresh water and power in remote locations. It is transportable
and does not produce plutonium or other transuranic elements
in significant quantity. Its fuel is self regulating so that
it will not overheat. This reactor can produce nuclear steam
to spin an electric turbine or to supply heat for chemical processes
including the refining of hydrocarbons.
The third thorium converter reactor is designed to produce medical
isotopes in the fast or epi-thermal neutron spectrum. This allows
for the production of important isotopes that are unavailable
to medical research and the health care industry. This will
be the smallest converter and can be located reasonably near
a stand alone treatment facility. |
Thorenco’s
technology will develop quickly because a powerful computational environment
is available to it.
Thorenco’s
innovations are being optimized by computer driven models using up
to date software and the
skills of seasoned computationalists. This approach was not available
in the past when present reactors were
designed and because of the increasing advances in computational power,
the new alloys invented by Thorenco’s
founder can be modeled quickly and promising mixes of materials can
be studied in much shorter time frames.
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There
is great need world wide for a comprehensive waste management
system for spent fuel from light water reactors. Thorenco plans
to advance the thorium fuel cycle by developing the science
to enable the construction of waste burning reactors at secure
facilities open for international supervision. Thorenco is also
developing technology to allow construction of transportable,
compact self regulating reactors that can be built in the factory.
These reactors will be delivered by rail or ship, and installed
in the field as a nuclear heat sources. The reactor would be
returned, after a ten year service period, to the factory for
recycling and refurbishment. Thorenco is making nuclear energy
cleaner, safer and more affordable using thorium’s beneficial
properties. Thorenco preliminary results shows that thorium
based fuels can power transportable fast reactors, that important
medical isotopes can be made in these fast spectrum reactors,
and that thorium can be used to eliminate existing transuranic
waste in larger fast reactors.
As nuclear waste is consumed, nuclear power becomes more sustainable.
The Global Nuclear Energy Program GNEP promises to reduce waste
and increase safety associated with reactor operations. Thorenco
believes that having to bury and protect spent fuel for thousands
of generations, can be avoided by new technology that extracts
available energy from the spent fuel and uses this energy to
produce power, process heat and important medical and commercial
isotopes. More importantly plutonium can be destroyed forever
and non-proliferative uranium 233 is produced as the fissile
driver for power needs of the future. Nuclear energy can become
much closer to a zero emission proposition and far more sustainable
by the application of the new thorium fuel technology that Thorenco
is developing.
The company is advancing the concepts that the best available
software and hardware of the present computational environment
can take advantage of the physical properties of thorium to
treat spent fuel from existing reactors, to produce power, heat
and isotopes. This technology will transform nuclear energy
so that it can become environmentally cleaner. Further, it may
be possible to retrofit some existing light water reactors with
thorium fuel so that they produce energy without producing plutonium
and the undesirable transuranics. With the cleaner Thorium fuel
cycle, nuclear power achieves sustainability. The Company is
also developing special equipment used to make medical isotopes
with greater efficiencies and in a more non-proliferative manner.
The equipment is a fast spectrum reactor dedicated to the production
of life saving radioisotopes. Advances are also contemplated
in the area of the production of diagnostic isotopes in widespread
use. New technology is being studied allowing some scarce therapeutic
isotopes to be produced in existing reactors.
The Company is demonstrating with computational proof satisfactory
to the scientific, governmental and regulatory communities that
its fast reactor can purify spent nuclear fuel effectively and
at a reasonable cost.
Thorenco’s converter reactors are designed to produce
power and fresh water at remote locations, to make medical isotopes
available for the treatment and diagnosis of disease and to
“fission away” the heavy transuranic metals, the
“nuclear waste” that the world’s fleet of
441 light water reactors produce.. This waste is about 4-5%
of the volume of the fuel rods. It is composed of neptunium,
plutonium, americium and curium. These transuranic elements
are radiotoxic for very long periods of time and some of the
metals have an explosive potential that is very attractive to
proliferators.
From a global perspective, the thorium reactor manages multiple
nuclear issues. One reactor is developed to “fission away”
that is to eliminate the transuranic metals from the environment
forever. The technology burns the isotopes of plutonium that
build up in light water fuel rods. This reactor will also irradiate
other troublesome long lived materials (transuranic metals or
minor actinides) to change the waste from long lived to short
lived. This new form of reactor extracts heat from the fissioning
of the plutonium and uses the neutrons transuranics causing
the heavy metal elements to transmute the neptunium, americium
and curium so that these are converted to lighter radioactive
elements that have with much shorter decay periods. This reactor
uses neutrons to destroy nuclear waste while producing energy.
Another reactor is designed to have a core that takes ten years
or more to burn. This one will be transportable so that when
it has completed its mission it can be moved back to the factory
for recycling of the fuel. Thorium is converted to uranium 233
when exposed to slow neutrons. This fissions well and because
plutonium-239 is six neutron captures away from uranium-233,
scant plutonium is produced in the reactor. Nuclear power becomes
more sustainable because the volume of the spent fuel from the
uranium plutonium cycle can be reduced by up to 95%. More importantly,
the storage time for the residue from the recycled thorium fuel
is materially reduced. This thorium residue left behind after
recycling will have to be stored for less than 300 years to
decay to background. With some other separations the bulk of
the material may need to be stored for a century or so.
The new technology can develop quickly in the available computational
environment where the fuel and reactor designs are being optimized.
There is need for low cost safe energy production methods. There
is a great need world wide for a comprehensive waste management
system for spent light water reactor fuel. There is a greater
need for a low cost energy source that does not dump carbon
gasses into the atmosphere. There is even greater need for a
comprehensive system that ends risks of weapons proliferation
by destroying and eliminating reactor grade plutonium and transmuting
the other long lived transuranic metals.
Thorenco plans to advance the thorium fuel cycle by developing
the science to enable the construction of waste burning reactors
at secure facilities open for international supervision and
for the construction of transportable, self regulating reactors
that can be built in the factory, transported by rail or ship,
and installed in the field as a nuclear heat sources. This converter
would be returned, after a ten year service period, to the factory
for recycling and refurbishment.
As a direct consequence of its research, Thorenco has learned
that important medical isotopes can be made in the fast neutron
spectrum. Thorenco’s reactors will include compartments
where these important isotopes can be made and moved in and
out of the reactor by remote control. The isotopes are used
to diagnose and treat many diseases and are in short supply
because existing reactors lack the hard or energetic neutrons
needed to make them. Additionally some of the isotopes can be
made in existing reactors if the target assemblies can be optimized
to provide enough neutrons at the correct energies.
As plutonium and uranium proliferation and transuranic waste
issues are resolved by advances in science, nuclear power becomes
more sustainable and thus desirable. Fuels should be recycled
to extract the remaining energy the heavy metals can be recovered
and combined with thorium and used as nuclear fuel.
The promise of Global Nuclear Energy Partnership is sustainable
energy from well managed nuclear processes. Instead of having
to bury and protect the spent fuel that contains plutonium and
radiotoxic materials for thousands of generations, Thorenco
is developing the new technology that extracts available energy
from the spent fuel and uses this energy to produce power, important
medical isotopes and commercial isotopes. More importantly plutonium
is being destroyed forever. The other transportable reactor
may be put to work in the field producing power, steam and fresh
water where these are needed. It can produce isotopes as well
to support medicine. Isotopes can be combined with small molecules
that selectively bind to cancer cell. When isotopes are delivered
atom by atom to combat disease using the new small molecules,
cancer cells and not healthy ones are targeted. This improves
the prospects for the patient. Further there is promise for
treatments for other diseases as more isotopes become available.
Nuclear energy can become closer to a zero emission proposition
when thorium is used as a fuel. The company is advancing the
ideas that reasoned use of the best available software and hardware
used in the present powerful computational environment can advance
beneficial aspects of nuclear power. Thorenco’s technology
will transform nuclear energy so that it can become more reliable.
The new fuel is designed to regulate its rate of fission autonomously.
As the fuel heats up the rate of fission goes down. This makes
operation of the Converter safer than other nuclear systems
because the problems with overheating are avoided and operator
error will be less likely to upset the safe operation of the
power plant. The Converter uses a cooling system that has no
moving parts to enhance safety and reliability. . With the Thorium
fuel cycle, nuclear power achieves sustainability.
Thorium is used because neutrons convert it to uranium 233.
This is a fissile material that fissions very efficiently. Thorium
also controls the neutron population. When the fuel is too hot
the rate of fission goes down because the thorium atoms will
absorb the neutrons before the uranium 233 atoms can capture
them. When the fuel is at its operating range the rate of fission
is high enough to maintain the power requirements of the system
Thorium is used because it is converted to uranium 233 and because
it controls the neutron population. When the new fuel is hot
the rate of fission goes down and when the fuel is at its operating
range the rate of fission is high enough to maintain the power
requirements of the system.
In addition to the waste remediation reactor, Thorenco LLC is
designing a small, portable reactor that is self regulating
that uses the thorium fuel cycle. This reactor can be built
in the factory, shipped by rail to the customer and placed in
automatic service for a decade or so. The heat of the fuel governs
the rate of fission in the core, so that this reactor can be
placed in autonomous service. This means that the reactor is
passively safe because the thorium soaks up surplus neutrons
when the temperature of the reactor approaches the upper range
power conversion systems. When it had completed a decade of
service, it would be returned to the factory by rail for recycling
of the fuel.
The advantages of the thorium fuel cycle are that it does not
produce plutonium and is non-proliferative for that reason.
Further, the converter produces uranium-232 along with the uranium-233.
This provides a radiation shield around the fuel and prevents
those who lack an automated hot cell facility from attempting
to concentrate uranium-233 from the fuel for illegal purposes.
Once the public and political leadership become aware of the
breakthroughs associated with the self regulating fuel and the
means to make isotopes, many advanced nuclear power stations
can be put on line to protect the mankind from the political,
environmental and economic effects of the developed world’s
over dependence on coal, oil and methane.
It is time for the thorium fuel cycle and purposeful recycling
of spent fuel, the production of power without transuranic waste
and the production of isotopes beneficial for the treatment
and diagnosis of disease. |
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